Robert I of New Britannia
Robert I "The Great" of New Britannia was the sixth Monarch of New Britannia. Robert I was born as Robert Delmade to the prestigious Delmade and De Monte families. He would ultimately witness the rise of Andrew I and would befriend the future Henry I. As a result of this friendship and his military prowess, he would become the lead general under Henry I who's succession he helped ensure, earning him the Dukedom of Kingstone when his predecessor there resisted Henry's rule. When New Britannia was invaded by the Britannian Empire for the second time, Robert would be the leading figure in its defense. Despite the long and costly war, Robert managed to repel the invasion force, earning him great prestige and wealth. When Henry I died, he was intended as regent for his mentally disturbed son, William I, but would be pushed aside by the latter's brother, the future Charles I, leading him to retire for a time. Robert, however, would be called forward by opponents of Charles I to overthrow him and install his brother, James I. Robert would oblige and would ultimately become head of the military once more under James I. When James died and his deposed brother was killed by his opponents to prevent his return, Robert stepped forward with the Royal Military to assert himself as the new King of New Britannia, however he encountered some resistance from the old, historically disloyal northern nobility, though he managed to defeat their rebellion with relative ease. The Britannian Empire, however, perceived this as an opportunity to defeat New Britannia and having, thanks to its lead general Alexander Beckwith, pushed out the barbarian invasions that had been ravaging Britannia, believed that if they defeated the New Britannians they could recover their prestige and reverse the decline that had been occurring for their Empire. Beckwith was sent with the largest invasion force that the Britannian Empire had ever fielded and managed to reach the coastline of New Britannia before they were engaged in a heavy naval battle between a massive fleet of Privateers, organized into the first New Britannian Navy by Robert. While this did not effectively reduce their numbers or weaken them, it slowed the Britannian landing in New Britannia. As the Britannian forces marched on Arevad, they met with the large bulk of the New Britannian army outside of the village of Stradwick. There, in the Battle of Stradwick, Robert I would fight 4 day long battle resulting in the near complete annihilation of the Britannian Invasion Force. The Invasion force remnants, on their retreat, would be caught off guard by Robert's son and heir, the future Joseph I, who would massacre them and order the impalement of the the prisoners taken. Alexander Beckwith would ultimately be led to a stump and would have his head crushed by a warhammer, beginning the long tradition of execution via skull crushing in New Britannia. Robert would ultimately be celebrated by the people for months, though he would not live much longer and died slightly more than a year after the Battle of Stradwick in 61 1ENB. He would be declared greater than Andrew the Unifier by the people of New Britannia at his funeral and would become known later on as the man that ensured the downfall of Britannia and secured New Britannia's chances at rising to greatness.